The Dance Year One
by Booklovr
Summary: MWPP/L first year at Hogwarts. What starts as a harmless prank feud evolves into an all out war. Can Lily and Jim's friends stop their fighting before they are killed--or expelled?
1. Informal Introductions

The Dance

_By Booklovr_

A/N: Okay I know I haven't posted in a really long time but here I am again with the first chapter of a new story. This story combines all my favorite thoughts, theories and mental babblings about the MWPP/L group.  Just so you know "The Dance" refers to a song, not to an actual dance.  And this is going to be very long and very complex, so expect to be holding on for a while.  If you feel up to it, read on…

_Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and everything else Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.  "The Dance" is by Garth Brooks, from his CD "garth brooks."_

**Chapter 1:**

_Informal Introductions _

_… I'm glad I didn't know_

_The way it all would end the way it all would go_

_Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain_

_But I'd of had to miss the dance_

Professor Albus Dumbledore had only just become the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but he had long since won the friendship and support of most of his colleagues, students, and their parents.  But he had not yet earned the trust of the young boy now watching him with old eyes.

Remus Lupin, just turned eleven, thought Dumbledore was a nice old man, and a good man, too.  Remus also thought him very naïve.  But, most likely, the small, gray-eyed boy was simply afraid to feel optimistic about anything just then.

"I must tell you again," said Dumbledore to Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, "how terribly sorry I was to hear about your daughter's accident."

"Yes," said Mrs. Lupin, "it was…very sudden.  We told her many times not to play in the road," here she struggled to keep the sobs from her voice, "but you know how children are…" She collapsed into weeping.

"She never really understood why," explained Mr. Lupin.  "We never had to worry about these 'cars' when we lived outside the city.  We moved here because of Remus.  Everyone knew about him in our old neighborhood, and no children came near him.  We thought it might be easier for him to get along with Muggle children, but he hardly ever left the house."  Mr. Lupin's eyes fell on a picture of his two children.  It had been taken a month or so before, when Rachel had returned from her second year at Hogwarts.  Remus's hair was straight and a little long; Rachel's was rather thick and curly.  Their arms were about each other's shoulders, and Remus, for once, was smiling.  "Rachel was the only friend he ever had, and now…" his voice trailed off.

Just then, Dumbledore noticed Remus.  The boy had been standing in the doorway the whole time.  But this hardly seemed the boy in the picture.  His features were set in a determined frown, his eyes gazed with ancient solemnity, and pain and sorrow were etched on every line of his face, making it seem far older than it really was.  Dumbledore smiled, and tried to wave him into the room.  Remus only blinked.

"He hasn't said a word since it happened," Mr. Lupin said with a sigh.

"Well," said Dumbledore, "we should let the past be.  Remus, I believe, should be starting school this September?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Lupin, "but there is no way…the school governors, the parents, the students…they won't want to be…put in danger."

"Nonsense," Dumbledore said with a wave of his hand.  "A few simple precautions are all that is needed.  I have already made arrangements for your son to be brought to a safe place when necessary.  There will be no risk to any students, or to Remus, and no one need know about him."  Dumbledore looked at Remus.  "Well?  Think you want to give it a try?"

Remus stomped his foot, then ran away.  He ran to his room, and threw himself on his bed, tears streaming.  _Stupid!  Foolish!  Stupid!_ Remus thought, with all the vast vocabulary of a distressed eleven-year-old.  It would never work.  No matter what…_precautions_…were taken, everyone would find out!  No one would want to be near him!  They would find out that he was…that he…Remus slammed his hand down on his nightstand.  A picture on it teetered, and fell.  Remus grabbed it, and hugged it to himself.  Then he looked at it.

His sister, Rachel, grinned up, with such a look of happiness that his heart wrenched anew with pain.  But he wiped his eyes and looked again.  Her face glowed with such happiness, joy, sympathy (always sympathy, but never a moment of pity), love, trust, friendship (had anyone else ever looked at him as a friend?) and forgiveness.  Always forgiveness.  In all Remus's memory, she had never once been angry.  She would forgive him now.  For not going to her funeral, for…the night…when she died… (_Mom and Dad are right,_ he tried once again to convince himself,_ it was an accident, a horrible, unstoppable accident, and there was nothing I, nothing anyone could have done_).

          "Little brother, never fear!

          "Your sister is always here!

          "Love, always and again,

          "Rachel 'Stellar' Lupin."

That silly little poem was signed in the picture's corner.  Remus remembered how, last fall, with Rachel at Hogwarts and not even the comfort of a familiar house, he had been too upset to eat or sleep.  But, after Rachel had sent him that picture, he had felt so much better, being able to see her.  It was almost like a security blanket.

Remus remembered how much Rachel had loved Hogwarts.  He hadn't needed to be afraid of going, as long as she had been there.  She had wanted to be a teacher…  Astronomy was her favorite subject…  She had taught him everything she had ever learned at Hogwarts…

Suddenly, a new determination gripped Remus.  He could go!  He could take her place…study hard…being a teacher would never be an option, perhaps graduating wouldn't either, but he would stay on for as long as possible, learning all he could.  He wouldn't need to have friends…wouldn't even need to talk to anyone.  He would just stay on and study, getting the education his sister could never have.  He would do it all for Rachel!

Without even noticing, he had walked all the way to the sitting room.  His parents and Dumbledore stopped talking to stare at the determined figure in the doorway.  He hesitated, feeling unsure.  Then, looking down at the picture he still clutched, took courage again, and uttered his first words in a long, long time.  "All right.  I'll go."

~*~*~*~

Lily Evans was trying to put her eyeballs back into their sockets.  Well, not literally.  But she was so shocked she could hardly blink, and she was sure her eyes were popping, like a cartoon character's.  Just a few days before, she had found out she was a witch.  Now she was standing on a street filled with witches and wizards…Diagon Alley.

Her parents were hardly less shocked but, being parents, they acted fairly responsible about it, attempting to find the appropriate shops as their mystified daughter trailed behind, trying to see everything.

There was so much to take in!  Children running, people pushing, loud conversations everywhere!  A mother shouted over prices while her short, round son eyed the ice cream parlor down the street.  A crowd of boys stood outside a store that sold brooms, while at the edge of the crowd a girl shouted, "Who needs a Nimbus 1001?  I can beat all of you any day—on a Wooden Rocket, no less!"

It wasn't until Lily saw a boy her age carrying a huge stack of textbooks that it occurred to her that these people, all these children, would be her friends, her enemies, her _schoolmates_ one day soon.  Who knew what could happen in the future?  Would she ever meet that boy over there, half hidden in the cauldron he was inspecting?  Or—

WHAM!  
  


Lily was quite suddenly brought back to reality when someone backed right into her.  Without looking, he grabbed her arm and shouted, "Run, Harry!"

Before Lily could ask who the heck Harry was, she was hauled down the street at an alarming speed and thrown behind some dustbins.  While she tried to catch her breath, she heard an explosion down the street, and brown sticky goop splattered the cobblestones and store fronts, as an awful stench made the shop patrons run for cover, gagging.  Turning away from the mayhem, Lily got her first good look at her "captors."  She had taken cover with two boys, about her age, with black hair.  One was average height, a little thin, with black eyes and longish hair.  The other, the one who had grabbed her, was tall, with brown eyes and the messiest hair she had ever seen.  And now they saw her.

"Hey!" said the messy-haired boy.  "You're not Harry!"

"Really?" demanded Lily.  "What was your first clue?"

Just as the longhaired boy began to make odd, chocking sounds, a third boy arrived.  He was about seven and looked like a smaller (and thinner) version of the messy-haired boy.  "Hey, Jimmy!  What did ya run off for?"

"Sorry," said the messy-haired boy (apparently Jimmy).  "I thought she was you," and he pointed at Lily.

The little boy (Harry) inspected Lily, with her bright red braids, many freckles, and dress.  "Do you need glasses, Jimmy?"

At this point, the longhaired boy gave up and fell over laughing, clearly finding the situation much funnier than anyone else. 

Jimmy scowled at everyone.  "I was in a hurry!  I didn't look, and she's exactly your height!"  Lily turned as red as her hair.  She _was_ rather short, but she wasn't very happy when people pointed this out.

Just then, Lily's parents showed up.  "Where did you go?" demanded Mrs. Evans furiously.

"I'm sorry," said Jimmy in a panicky voice, while trying futilely to silence his friend.  "I thought she was my little brother!"

"Come on, Lily," said her father, giving Jimmy an odd look.

"Promise me you'll avoid those strange boys," whispered Mrs. Evans as they walked away.

"Sure," said Lily, half-heartedly.  For the rest of the trip, Lily was subdued and mute.  Her biggest reaction was a small start of surprise when she saw Goblins in the bank.  The incredibly strange books in the bookstore, the shelves of unusual things in the Apothecary, the process of getting her wand, _nothing _in Diagon Alley seemed to have any effect but to make Lily sigh and become even quieter.

"What's wrong Lily?" asked Mrs. Evans as they boarded the train home.

Lily shrugged.  "I don't know.  Everything is so…strange."  She thought of the boy, Jimmy, and his hyena-like friend.  "Even the people are strange.  I don't think I'll _ever_ fit in.  And I'll probably never learn any magic."  She sighed.  "The rest of them will probably have eleven years' head start on me!  It's just plain hopeless!"

"But I thought you wanted to go," said Mr. Evans.

Lily thought hard.  Why had she wanted to go?  The answer was her sister, Petunia.  Petunia was thirteen, tall, blonde, and beautiful.  She always made short, redheaded, plain Lily look, well, like dirt.  Lily got fairly good grades, though nothing really impressive.  On top of that, she was a bookworm, and didn't have many friends.  She'd hoped that at this Hogwarts school, things would be different, but now she wasn't so sure.  How could she ever fit in with the kids screaming outside the broom shop, arguing over things she knew nothing about?  Or the adults, who walked past all these incredible things, as casually as if they didn't even notice?  And that boy, Jimmy!  She would never belong with all that!

But then, would she ever belong among the—what were they called?  Muggles?  Always living in Petunia's shadow. She could live her life trying to be like her sister…or would she be better off with no one to be an example to her at all?  Lily looked out the window, then focused on her reflection.  She could never be Petunia!  But maybe, just maybe, if she went to Hogwarts, she could be…Lily.

"I do want to go," she murmured.  She looked at her father with a hint of a smile.  "And I think I will!"

~*~*~*~

Jim Potter had been watching the red-haired girl running back and forth around King's Cross Station for several minutes.  She had said goodbye to her parents, but she had seemed unsure of what to do next.  Just as Jim had decided to abandon his post next to his trunk to offer assistance, the girl slumped, defeated, against the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten—and promptly fell backwards through it.  Jim chuckled and watched.  _She must be a Muggle-born witch,_ he thought.  His mother had told him to be nice to the Muggle-born students, so he knew he should help her.  But then again, his father had told him (several times) not to move away from the trunks until they returned.  So, Jim watched as the bewildered girl jumped up and passed her hand through the wall, then pulled it back.  She repeated the experiment a few times, then began to circle the barrier.  Jim was now shaking from contained laughter.  Many witches and wizards believed Muggles were only good for a laugh.  While Jim thought this was unfair and probably untrue (he'd never met an actual Muggle), it was becoming apparent that they could be quite funny.  Just as the girl was standing half through the barrier to see where it led, Jim's family returned.

"Mommy!" said Jim's little brother, Harry, "That's the girl Jimmy thought was me!"  With a start, Jim realized that it was (what was her name?  Libby?  Lizzie?  Lily!) Lily.

"Are you _sure_ you don't need glasses, Jimmy?" laughed Jim's older brother, Ric.

"Oh, cut it out!" snapped Jim.  "I wasn't _looking_!  And stop calling me 'Jimmy' it sounds so…babyish."

"Well, you'll have to be a lot more careful if you want to get away with anything at Hogwarts," commented Ric.

Mr. Potter, Jim's father, cleared his throat.  "I hope you won't be trying to 'get away with anything' at this school..."

"Like what?" Jim asked innocently, cutting off the rest of his father's warning.  The words were barely out of his mouth when—

SLASH!

"I'll get you for that!" shouted Jim, spinning around and producing a water balloon from, seemingly, nowhere.  He spotted his best friend, Sirius Black, standing just beyond the Potters' trunks.  Within one minute, both boys were soaked and their bags of water balloons (hidden in their coats) were empty.

"Like _that_," said Mrs. Potter.  But Jim wasn't listening.  He and Sirius grabbed their trunks and raced across the station, through the barrier, and across Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.  People jumped away as the wet boys ran towards the Hogwarts express.  Jim won, meaning that Sirius would have to lug the trunks onto the train.  While he did that, Mrs. Black and the Potters (minus Ric, who was meeting his friends) came to say goodbye.

"See ya, Jimmy!" shouted Harry, who was all too happy to have both his brothers gone this year.

"Stop calling me 'Jimmy'!  I'm eleven years old!"

"Okay, _James_!" Jim wished he had another balloon to throw at his brother.

"Remember to be nice!" said Mrs. Potter.

"And stay out of trouble!" warned Mr. Potter.

"I will," said Jim, giving each parent a quick hug.  Just as Jim stepped back, Sirius, who had just had a similar conversation with his mother, dropped his last balloon on Jim's head, thoroughly soaking his hair.  Jim turned around and charged back onto the train.  When the Hogwarts Express headed out, Jim had Sirius in a headlock, and Sirius was attempting to knock him over.

"Come on, say it!" said Jim.

"No!" gasped Sirius.

"I can stand here like this all day."

"Fine.  Jim Potter is the greatest wizard in England."

"Really?  I'm flattered!  Let's go see who else is here!"  Jim let go and rushed out the door.

In the compartment nearest to theirs sat two boys, both seemingly wrapped up in their own thoughts.  One was a small, roundish boy with blond hair and small eyes who was reading _The Daily Prophet_.  The other was a thin boy with light brown hair.

"Hullo!" said Jim cheerfully.  "First years?"

The two boys jerked up.  They didn't seem to think Jim was talking to them.  "I'm Jim Potter, and this is Sirius Black."  The brown-haired boy stared expressionlessly at them, almost as if he could see something they couldn't and was thinking deeply about it.  The other boy simply looked terrified, as if they might jump him or something.

"What are your names?" Sirius prompted slowly.

"Peter.  Pettigrew," said the blond boy.

"So you can talk!" Jim said, not unkindly.

"I'm Remus Lupin," said the other, unsurely.

"That's a name!" said Sirius.

"You should talk, _Sirius_!" said Jim.

"So what's in the news, Peter Pettigrew?" asked Sirius, ignoring his friend.

Peter shuddered.  "They say there's a new dark wizard rising.  They've traced two Muggle killings to him over the summer."

"Really?" said Jim, snatching the paper.  "Let me see!  _Voldemort_?  Now _that's_ a name!"  He laughed.

"Bet he's not even a _real_ dark wizard," snorted Sirius.  "They say that every time a wizard is suspected of killing someone.  It's usually just some lunatic, and half the time it's not even the wizard they suspected."

"I dunno," said Peter, "I think this one might be big!"

"Oh, please!" said Jim.  "Powerful dark wizards are like huge blizzards in New England: They always say the next one's coming, but it's always a disappointment!"

"What do you know about dark wizards?" asked Peter, skeptically.  "Or blizzards in New England, for that matter?"

Jim laughed.  "That's for me to know and you to stay up late at night wondering about!"

"Besides, when was the last time we actually had a powerful dark wizard?  1940?" asked Sirius.

"Grindelwald," offered the quiet Remus.  "Fell in 1945.  He was defeated by Albus Dumbledore, who's our new Headmaster."

Jim blinked in amazement.  "How'd you know that?"

"My sister was a Gryffindor, so she had him as Head of House," explained Remus.  "She liked to tell me all the interesting things she learned here…" his eyes got distant and misty.

"She's a Gryffindor?" said Jim.  "Cool!  So is my brother.  You say your name's Lupin?  Maybe he knows her.  That'd be neat, then we'd have something in com—" Something in Jim's head clicked.  "Oh, no!  Not _Rachel_ Lupin?"  Remus nodded.

"Who's she?" asked Sirius.

"Ric _did_ know her—she was in his year.  I'm so sorry, Remus!"

"What?" demanded the confused Sirius.

"She died over the summer," Jim explained.  "I'm sorry!"

"I-it's okay," murmured Remus," I-I'm over it."

Jim really doubted this.  "Come on," he said, "we're meeting all the kids in this car.  You come along!"

After much coaxing, Jim and Sirius got Peter and Remus to follow them out of the compartment.  As they headed for the next one, Jim noticed his hair was still completely drenched.  "Um, Sirius…what was in that last balloon?"

"Just water," Sirius looked at Jim's hair.  "Ooh, that must be the one with the jinxed water!  It should dry…in about ten hours!"  Jim swung his fist at Sirius, who ducked and ran into the compartment with Jim right behind.  Realizing there was someone inside—and sitting quite close to the door—Sirius tried to stop, lost his balance, and fell onto a black-eyed boy with greasy hair.  Jim, too close behind to stop, fell on top of Sirius, laughing.

The boy they fell on was not happy.  "Get off me!"

Jim and Sirius jumped up.  "Erm, hi," said Jim to the scowling boy.  He introduced himself and his companions.

"I'm Severus Snape," said the boy they fell on.  "What are you doing in here?"

"Erm, meeting new people," said Jim.

Severus just scowled harder.  "How nice."

"Are you a first year, too?" Jim prompted.  Severus nodded shortly.  "Wow, so talkative," Jim commented to Sirius.

If Severus heard this, he didn't respond.  Although that could be because he was already giving them a look that probably came as close to lethal as was humanly possible.

"So, do you have any hobbies?" asked Sirius.

"Dark Arts," stated Severus.

"Er, do you mean _Defense_ Against Dark Arts…?" wondered Remus from the door.

"No, I mean Dark Arts," snapped Severus.  Peter shrank behind Remus.  "I mean if you don't get out right now, I'll curse you so badly, you'll wish you'd never been accepted into Hogwarts!"

"Oh, really?" said Sirius, as if this was a conversational point, not a threat.

"Really," Severus said, raising his wand.  "_Densaugeo_!"

But even as he said it, Remus was pulling them out the door, so the curse missed.  "Ok…" said Sirius, "next compartment!"

"You sure that's a good idea?" asked Peter.

"They can't all be _that_ bad," said Jim, gesturing towards Severus's compartment.

"Yup, and we all came out intact.  Let's go!"  They started down the train and opened another door at random.

Inside, a girl with short black hair was talking.  "…So when the Seeker catches the Golden Snitch, the game ends, and that team gets a hundred and fifty points!"

"Quidditch!" said Jim, rushing in.  "Oh, did I miss the whole conversation?"  The girl who had been talking looked at him with suspicious violet eyes.

But Jim wasn't looking at her.  He was looking at the girl she had been talking to: a girl with red braids, green eyes, and a freckly nose.  "I know you!  You're that girl from Diagon Alley!"  She took one look at him, then turned away.  "Hey, come on, I said I was sorry!"  The girl stared at her knees.  Jim moved next to her.  "So, you're a Muggle-born?"  Nothing.  "Your name is Lily, right?  Lily what?"

"Lily Pad!" suggested Sirius, moving to her other side.

"Lily-of-the-valley!" suggested Jim.

"Tiger Lily!"

"Lilioukalani!"

"Day Lily?"

"Lilliputian!"

Unable to stop herself, Lily looked up, amazed.  "Lilliputian?"

"Yeah," said Jim, "the really small people from—"

"_Gulliver's Travels_!  You read that?"

"Um, yeah," said Jim.  "It was pretty good, though a little…" he couldn't quite think of the word he wanted.

"I know!" said Lily, completely understanding.  "I thought the same thing!"  She smiled slightly.  "I'm Lily Evans.  But I'm _supposed_ to be avoiding you."

"I assure you, we are harmless," Jim said with a bow.  Sirius snorted, but made sure he was out of Jim's reach.

"So what's your name?" asked Lily.

Jim pushed his still soaked hair back, until it was smooth against his skull.  Then he put up his hands, as if he was holding a gun.  "Potter," he said suavely, "James Potter."

Lily laughed.  "Don't tell me you've seen James Bond?"

Jim grinned.  "Okay, then, I won't."  He turned to the other girl.  "And who are you, fellow Quidditch fan?"

"Victoria Hall," she said.  "What kind of broom you got?"

"Nimbus 1001, of course," said Jim.

Victoria shook her head.  "Typical guys.  Nimbus 1001 may be fast and flashy, but nothing beats the power or steering of a Wooden Rocket."

"You're crazy!" said Sirius.  "Wooden Rockets are shaky, and they stopped building those years ago!"

"Yeah, those things have a mind of their own," agreed Jim.

"They may be temperamental," said Victoria, "but that only means you have to be a great flyer to use one!"

"I still say you're crazy," argued Sirius.  "Don't you two agree?"  He looked at Peter and Remus for support.

Peter shuddered.  "I don't fly."

But Remus shook his head.  "My sister used to have one of those.  She said, 'If you know what you're doing, you can out fly anyone on a Wooden Rocket.'"

"Finally, someone who can talk sense," said Victoria, grinning.

For the first time in months, Remus smiled.  It almost hurt, it had been so long.  But it made him look like a kid again.

_A/N: One chapter down, innumerable chapters to go.  I'll try to post each one as quickly as possible, but don't be surprised if Order of the Phoenix comes out and I'm still not done.  Reviews help me to post faster.  Really.  And if anyone would like to be a beta reader, I would greatly appreciate it.  Email me at pixiedust122@hotmail.com and put "your story" or "beta reading" in the subject box, because otherwise I might delete it._


	2. School in Session

The Dance

_By Booklovr_

_A/N: Okay here is the much-anticipated second chapter.  Naturally, we see the Sorting Ceremony, and the start of classes.  Some basic characterization and most of the story's main players are introduced.  And we see some hints of things to come…_

_Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and everything else Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.  "The Dance" is by Garth Brooks, from his CD "garth brooks."_

**Chapter 2:**

School in Session 

_… I'm glad I didn't know_

_The way it all would end the way it all would go_

_Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain_

_But I'd of had to miss the dance_

"Abner, Christine!"

The first girl walked towards the hat on the stool.  She stared at it for a second, then shyly dropped it on her head.  After a few seconds, a rip appeared in the hat's brim and shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"

She nervously walked over to the cheering table and took a seat.

"Avery, Kenneth!" called the old man with the list of names.

A boy with light sandy-blond hair went towards the stool.  "SLYTHERIN!"

"You nervous?" Jim asked Sirius.

"Nah.  You?"

"Oh, please."

"Black, Sirius!"

"You're up."

Sirius walked up to the hat, twirled it around by its brim, then dropped it on his head.

The hat was enormous, so that Sirius was nearly blind inside.  "Let's see," said a little voice in his ear.  "Where do you go?  Lots of spirit, I see.  Oh, yes, plenty of that.  And not much fear.  That's not the same as bravery, though, and I dare say, you'll find that out soon enough."

_Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Sirius thought._

"That's for you to discover; I only know what's in your head already.  Still, I suppose the place for you is GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius bounded up happily and laid the hat down on the stool for "Bones, Adam!" ("HUFFLEPUFF!").

"Delaney, Alice!" (Slytherin)…"Durham, Christopher!" (Ravenclaw)…and finally, "Evans, Lillian!"  After disappearing under the hat for a minute, she was declared a Gryffindor.  Sirius waved as Lily took a seat, listening with marginal interest as "Fox, Helen," a pretty girl with long blonde curls, was also sorted into Gryffindor.  Sirius tiredly looked up at the ceiling, which was enchanted to look like the sky.  He was just wondering if any post owls had ever died from attempting to fly through the ceiling when he heard "Lestrange, Edward!" followed by "SLYTHERIN!"  Looking down, he noted that Lily had been joined by Helen Fox and Victoria Hall.

"Lupin, Remus!" Sirius was surprised that the hat barely touched Remus's head before shouting "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" said Sirius as Remus came over.

"Yeah, thanks.  Hey, check out the ceiling!"

"I know!  How many owls do you think have mistaken it for an opened skylight?"

As they debated the question, the line at the front dwindled.  M's…N's…O's…

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

Peter looked highly reluctant to step forward, eyes darting to all the tables before him.  Grabbing the hat, he sat down and pulled it on, looking as if he might simply crawl in and disappear.  After about a minute… "GRYFFINDOR!"  Sirius was mildly surprised, and Peter looked immensely relieved.  Dropping the hat back on the stool, he raced across the Great Hall and sat down near Sirius and Remus. 

"Potter, James!"

Jim walked coolly up to the hat.  He bowed to it, then flipped it twice around his hand before placing it on his head, while spinning around and sitting on the stool.  He needn't have bothered; almost immediately, the hat screamed "GRYFFINDOR!"  Jim rolled the hat along his arms and behind his back before handing it with much flourish and a bow to "Powell, Aaron!"

When the Sorting Ceremony was over, the old man rolled up his list of names and carried the hat and stool out of the room while the new Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, stood up.

"Welcome back, students!  Or, for those first years, welcome to Hogwarts!  I know you all must be hungry, so I will be brief.  Many of you already know me as the Deputy Headmaster of this school.  Well, after many years of service, your previous Headmaster, Professor Dippet, retired last year, and I, Professor Dumbledore, am taking his place."  There was quite a bit of applause, as Dumbledore was very popular.  "This means, however, that I am no longer Deputy Headmaster or Head of Gryffindor House."  Some groans from the Gryffindor table.  "Filling my duties will be our, er, most experienced teacher, Professor Binns!"  There was some scattered applause.  Professor Binns, who had read the list at the Sorting, was probably the _oldest teacher there.  He looked like he might die at any moment.  "And your new Transfiguration teacher is Professor Minerva McGonagall."  Polite applause as a strict looking woman of about fifty stood, bowed slightly, then sat.  "Now, I do have some sad news.  Over the summer, one of our students suffered a terrible accident.  Rachel Lupin, who would have been a third year Gryffindor, died after being hit by a Muggle vehicle known as a car.  Let us take a moment of silence to remember her."  Many students, including most of the Gryffindors, bowed their heads.  Sirius noticed that Remus was silently crying.  But, when Dumbledore spoke again, Remus quickly wiped his eyes and looked up._

"I do have two last announcements.  First, students are reminded not to enter the Forbidden Forest for any reason.  It is full of dangerous creatures, and it would be unlikely that we would ever see you again.  Second, a tree has been planted on the Hogwarts property: a Whomping Willow.  Do not approach this tree unless you want a trip to the Hospital Wing!  That is all, enjoy your meal!"  And he sat down.

"Boy, I'm starving!" Jim said, reaching for the food that had just materialized on the table.

"Not as hungry as I am!" Sirius snatched the bowl of mashed potatoes away.

"Nuh-uh, I'm the hungriest!" Remus pulled the bowl out of his hands.

"No way!  Give it here!"  Peter reached for it.

Remus jumped onto a chair to hold the bowl over everyone's head, which didn't work too well, since Sirius also had a chair, and was taller than Remus.  He attempted to pull the bowl away from Remus, who pulled just as hard back.  Suddenly, it levitated out of their hands and landed, upside down, on Jim's head.

"RIC!" Jim moaned, pulling off the bowl and trying to remove some of the potatoes from his hair.

His older brother calmly put away his wand.  "Next time, don't put dungbombs in my trunk."

"Oh, man," moaned Jim.  "Those weren't supposed to go off until midnight!"

"I told you," said Sirius, "AM and PM; we need to differentiate between noon and midnight."

Ric threw his arms up.  "Timed dungbombs!  What will you two think of next?"

Sirius grinned.  "You won't know until we try the next one out on you."

"Easy for you to say," muttered Jim.  "You don't have potatoes dripping down your back."

"Look on the bright side," said Victoria, grinning at him from down the table.  "It might have been a bowl of hot soup!"

Jim promptly threw a handful of mashed potatoes at her.  She grabbed a bread roll and threw it back.  Just as it looked like a food fight would start, Helen jumped up.  "Cease and desist!" she shouted. "Revenge might _seem_ logical at this point, but we still require _some_ nourishment!"  Jim scowled at her.  "Look, my only desire right now is to survive this meal without it transmuting into a Quidditch match!"  Everyone rolled his or her eyes at the same time.

CLANG!

Any other comments on the subject were cut short as everyone turned to see what had happened.  Remus, who had been about to serve himself soup, had quite suddenly dropped the serving ladle.  He was now clutching his hand to his chest, but seemed to force himself to relax and shake out his hand.  "Very hot," he murmured, with a strange look in his eyes.  "Hey, is this _real silver?" he asked, pointing at the silverware._

"One hundred percent," said Sirius, "and I bet the plates are solid gold!"

"Right," said Victoria.  "I don't even think they _sell_ solid gold plates, Midas.  In fact, I've seen earrings with a higher gold content."

"But these spoons are of superior quality," Helen pointed out.  "Maybe even sterling silver, that's over 90% silver."

"Oh, please," said Sirius.  "Like you're both some sort of experts?"

Remus looked at the food for a second, then sighed, reaching for a bread roll.  "I'm not that hungry."

"What?" demanded Jim, doing an impressive imitation of Sirius's mother.  "You are nothing but skin and bones!  Eat!  Eat!" Reaching for nearby platters, he dropped a steak on Remus's plate, followed by vegetables and potatoes (though not the ones in his hair), and anything else he could get his hands on.  Remus gave him a little smile, but only picked with his fingers.  When desserts came, though, Remus did have a plateful of various finger foods.

After the feast, Dumbledore stood to give a few words.  Sirius was too full to pay any attention, but it only seemed to be a list of illegal things, like magic in the corridors, tracking mud, talking in the library…Sirius was struggling to stay awake.  He was just about to nod off when Jim poked him hard.  "I'm awake," he said, sitting straight up.

"Yeah, sure," said Jim.  "Come on, bed time."

Following one of the fifth year Prefects, the Gryffindors stumbled down corridors, up staircases, then down stairs and up corridors, then through random secret passages behind tapestries…Sirius soon became convinced the Prefect was showing off and taking the most complicated route possible.  At last, they walked through a hole behind the portrait of a fat lady in some kind of horrible dress and into their common room.  Sirius vaguely noted that the three girls he had met earlier were already talking amongst themselves as they climbed up the stairs.

"Hey, Sirius," Jim called.  "Where are you going?"

"Huh?" Sirius muttered, looking around in confusion.

"That's the girls' dorm.  Boys' rooms are over _here_."

"Oh…"

In the first year boys' dorm, all their trunks were already at the foot of their beds.  Sirius changed into pajamas and crawled under his covers, fully ready to go to sleep.  As he looked around the room, he saw something that made him frown.  "Peter, what is THAT?"

Peter looked embarrassed.  "That's Mr. Scales, my stuffed dragon."

Sirius tried hard not to laugh, but failed.  "Mr. Scales?"

"Shut up, Sirius," said Jim.  Then, to Peter, "I happen to know he sleeps with a stuffed dog named Snuffles."

Sirius scowled, hugging Snuffles closer.  "Yeah?  Well, Jim here still sucks his thumb."

Remus sighed loudly.  "And I absolutely cannot sleep without a picture of my sister on my nightstand.  Now that we've all swapped embarrassing secrets, can we get some sleep?"

The lights went off and everyone fell silent.  Then they all called good nights to everyone else.  There was no bitterness or bashfulness in the voices.  They had all swapped secrets, and didn't feel the worse for it.  Sirius grinned.  He just knew they would all be great friends.

A few hours later, he woke to a noise across the room.  "Who's up?" he called groggily.

"Sorry," whispered Remus.  "I couldn't sleep.  I'm hungry."

Sirius shook his head and crawled out of bed.  He managed to get his trunk open and quickly rifled through.  "My Mum packed me some sandwiches I never ate.  Here."

"Thanks," said Remus as he took them.  Sirius shook his head.  What a strange boy.

~*~*~*~

Helen sat at the breakfast table, sizing up her classmates.  Victoria "Just Call Me Vicki" Hall was a definite tomboy and a complete extrovert.  Lillian "No, Lily, Please" Evans was her opposite, a shy little bookworm.  Helen considered herself in the middle, so they should make a good group.  The boys, on the other hand…

Sirius "That's My Name, Don't Wear It Out" Black was entirely too outgoing, and always had something up his sleeve.  Peter "Don't Call Me Pete" Pettigrew was far too shy, and always acted as if he thought he was about to be attacked or something, but seemed nice enough.  James "No, Jim" Potter seemed somewhat insane, but also nice and a bit charismatic.  Remus "Who, Me?" Lupin looked at first older, more mature, almost philosophical and sad.  Apparently, that didn't stop him from also being a complete lunatic.

"Remus, that's your eighth bagel!  Are you sure you don't want waffles?"

Remus looked at the wonderful, hot waffles and rich syrup on Jim's plate, then shook his head.

"How about cereal?  Very sugary!"

Again, he watched Sirius take a huge spoonful of the sugary mess, dribbling fresh milk, then shook his head.

"Don't you even want cream cheese or jam?" offered Peter.

Remus looked almost longingly at the rich cream cheese and the jam with chunks of fruit, then shook his head.

Lily looked sympathetic.  "How about bacon?"

Remus stared at the plate of crisp, hot just-cooked bacon, and seemed to snap.  He ate it all in three seconds flat.

"Where'd he get those manners?" wondered Vicki softly.

"It's almost like he's afraid of…silverware," Helen whispered back.  This was just too ridiculous, and she started giggling.  Vicki, who never giggled, let out her own loud laugh.

Remus stopped eating.  He stared at them for five seconds, completely still, before he stood and ran from the room.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves," said Lily hotly.

"Aw, Lily, we weren't being serious," said Helen.

Vicki looked down.  "I didn't _mean to laugh so loud."_

"Well, don't apologize to me," said Lily.  "We'll see him in class.  First up, we have," she glanced at the schedule, "Transfiguration?"

"Ah, yes," said Jim, acting the know-it-all.  "Transfiguration: the art of turning one thing into another.  Don't look so worried, Lilliputian.  On the first day, she'll only have us turning toothpicks into needles."

Lily glowered at him.  "Looks like you've got a permanent nickname," said Vicki.

The girls did not get to apologize right away.  Although they made it to class with plenty of time to spare (they asked for directions from the painting of two very well-dressed women, much to Lily's bewilderment), the three other boys arrived later, and Remus only about half a minute before the start of class.  Plus, the girls sat in the front of the room while the boys sat towards the back.

After taking attendance, Professor McGonagall said, "Alright, class.  You are here to learn Transfiguration—"

"The art of turning one thing into another," Jim finished.

McGonagall scowled at him.  "Mr. Potter, I don't know what you're used to but in my class you are expected to pay attention and behave.  I'll have you know I have zero tolerance for such nonsense, is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor," said Jim in his sweetest, most innocent voice.

"Since you already know what this class is about, we'll go straight to the notes."  The girls all turned to glare at Jim.  Lily was absolutely shooting daggers at him.  But Jim just smiled and waved nonchalantly.

After taking a lot of complex notes, they split into pairs to turn toothpicks into silver needles (Lily ignored Jim's grin and wink at the assignment).

Because there was an odd number, Vicki and Helen wanted to form a trio with Lily, but she insisted that they take this chance to apologize to Remus.  She had a slightly odd look on her face as she paired up with Peter.

Helen sat to one side of Remus and Vicki to the other.  He looked positively trapped.  Helen had no idea where to start.

Fortunately, she didn't have to.  "Remus," said Vicki, "I'm sorry I laughed so loud.  I couldn't help it."

"Yeah," Helen said.  "I was merely concerned about the extent of your…appetite," she had the sense not to say "bad manners," "when…it just came out." Remus looked at her as if trying to decide what sort of lunatic she was.

"If it makes you feel better," said Vicki, "I'll never be able to giggle behind your back."  Remus shrugged and gave a quick half-smile before turning worriedly to his toothpick.

When Helen turned back to Lily, though, the other girl still looked like she had eaten a lemon.  Either they had said something wrong, or working with Peter was very trying.

As class drew to an end, few students had made any progress.  Helen's toothpick was a little longer and Vicki's had a slight silver tint.  Remus's had a small hole at one end and a basic needle shape, but Lily's looked exactly the same and Peter's looked even more like a toothpick, if that's possible.  Jim, on the other hand, was the only student who had managed a complete transformation (McGonagall seemed surprised and somehow disappointed), though Sirius seemed to have managed something along the lines of a broken paperclip.

Professor McGonagall was going around and checking the toothpicks.  When she got the Lily, she stopped.  "Whatever is the matter, Miss Evans?"

Lily was practically in tears.  "I-I-I left my wand _in my dorm!"  There were murmurs all around.  "I didn't think—"_

"Apparently not," muttered someone across the room.

"Who said that?" demanded the professor.  Jim and Sirius gave her identical expressions of innocence.  She turned sternly back to Lily.

"I didn't think we'd be doing magic on our first day!"  Lily's voice was nearly a wail.

McGonagall opened her mouth.

"Hey!" shouted Vicki.  "Give her a break!  It _is _the first day!"

"Yeah!" said Helen.  "She _is_ the only Muggle-born in the class!  She didn't know what to expect!"

"Excuse me!" McGonagall had to shout to be heard over the protests.  "I was going to say that, since this is the first day, and it was an honest mistake, I will 'give her a break'!"  She leaned closer.  "Don't let it happen again," she warned.

"Yes, Professor," said Lily.

She turned to Vicki and Helen.  "I would advise you not to question my judgment; if I feel punishment is in order, I will give it out.  Understood?"

"Yes, Professor," the two girls chorused.

"And," she turned towards Jim and Sirius, "I don't want to hear another snide remark from this side of the room.  Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!"  The boys didn't sound the least bit sorry.

Thankfully, the class ended, and they all headed to History of Magic where, to Lily's relief, wands weren't needed.

History of Magic was dull.  Very, very dull.  Professor Binns stood in front of the class droning on and on and on… Sirius and Jim actually behaved, out of fear that they might give Binns a heart attack if they acted up.  Only Vicki seemed to bother trying to take notes, though they were very complicated.  Helen leaned over to look once and saw a good deal of arrows, crossing-outs, question marks, and various symbols.  Helen shook her head, and went back to sitting in a dazed stupor.

Wednesday night, they had Astronomy with the Ravenclaws.  The tower was rather crowded, so it took Helen a little while to notice something was wrong.  Remus, who always showed up just before the start of class, was completely absent.  Helen thought this rather strange, in fact, she thought everything about Remus was strange.  He had those bizarre eating habits, and he was always nearly late for class.  He spent a lot of time hiding in his room or completely avoiding people.  He was lass an introvert than a total recluse!  And now he was missing altogether.

"I wish you would get off his back," said Vicki.  "Of course he's acting a little strange.  His sister died just a month or two ago!  Maybe it's all stress or mourning or something!"

Helen gave up on Vicki, who clearly missed the point.  And Lily was no better; Lily just said she was busy and continued trying to teach Peter how to focus his telescope.  Rolling her eyes, Helen stepped up and looked through Peter's eyepiece.  "What an amazing phenomenon, this diffuse argentate glow that you discovered!  However, I theorize that your attempts to distinguish recognizable constellations will improve monumentally if you _point the telescope away from the full moon_!"

After Astronomy, as the Gryffindors returned to their common room, everyone began to get worried as it became more obvious that Remus was nowhere to be found.  He was not, as Jim had theorized, "sleeping in…probably forgot we had a night class!"

"You know," Peter said while they looked around the Common Room to see if he had fallen asleep in one of the chairs, "I don't think I've seen him since dinner."

Sirius ran up to check the boys' dorm, and came back down shaking his head.  "He's not up there, I don't think he's _anywhere_ in the tower!"

Vicki thought for a moment, nodding.  "You know what?  I told him he'd make himself sick.  I mean you guys all _saw_ how much he ate tonight.  I have never seen _anyone_ cram down that many chicken wings in one sitting.  Just watch, tomorrow morning he'll show up right around breakfast and say he was sick the whole night in the hospital wing or something, and won't eat another bite for a week."  She rolled her eyes and started up the girls' dorms stairs, muttering something about "typical guys."

The next morning, however, Remus did not show up around breakfast, and was still missing at the start of their first Defense Against Dark Arts class.  By this time, everyone was considerably more than a little worried.  And that was before they met Professor Reticly, Head of Slytherin House, who seemed even worse than McGonagall.  Reticly started off with a lecture.

"This class is Defense Against the Dark Arts.  What you learn here could save your lives one day, which of course will depend entirely on your _paying_ attention.  Not paying attention may cost you your life in the future, though I dare say considering this class it is by far the most likely outcome.  So I will make this clear now: there will be _no_ talking, note passing, eating, or ridiculous questions in this class.  Do _not_ daydream if you know what's good for you.  If you come late or are unprepared, you will lose your House points and receive a detention.  Fool around and you will leave the class and receive a zero for the day.  Is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor," chorused the students.

Helen hoped Jim and Sirius weren't planning anything.  She also hoped Remus wouldn't come at all, since the punishment for tardiness seemed worse than that for absence.

"Now," the professor continued, "I know most of have come here hoping to learn all sorts of hexes and curses to use against your classmates.  However, you can all forget about it, since we won't even touch on curses until your fourth year.  We will start by studying Dark Creatures.  The first two years will include basic identification, locating spells, and the best way to protect your self and run."  He sneered out the last word.  "Third year will recap the creatures you've learned and teach you how to defeat them.  In the case of the less dangerous creatures, I may be able to provide live examples.  The creatures we will study will range from as harmless as a pixie to as dangerous as a werewolf."

BANG!

Every student twisted in his or her seat to see what had happened.  Remus Lupin had tried to sneak in but, for some reason, had missed his chair and fallen to the ground with his books scattering.

"Mr. Lupin, now that you have been so kind as to join us," Professor Reticly said, his voice oozing with sarcasm, "I would ask that next time you do it more quietly."

"Y-yes, sir." Remus murmured, trying to slide into his seat.

"I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!" Reticly bellowed, and Remus sprang to his feet.  "Come to the front of the class."

"But, Professor, he—"

"Silence, Mr. Potter!"

"But—"

"Silence!"  Remus shuffled to the front of the class.  "Well, Mr. Lupin, I see you are late for my first lesson."

"S-sir, I-I was s-sick," Remus stammered.  "Y-you can ask M-Madam D-D-Delta."  He gulped.  "H-Hospital Wing, all night…"

Reticly's look was enough to shut Remus up.  "You are late.  Are you also unprepared?"  A pause.  "Well?"

"N-no sir.  Th-that's why I'm late.  R-ran all the way to Gryffindor for my b-books and, and things."

"Do you know the material?"

"Sir?"

"Do you know the material?" Reticly barked.  "Did you read over your books, or did you just prance in here, LATE, and expect me to spoon feed it all to you?"

Remus actually stood up straighter.  "Yes, sir, I know the material."

"Oh, really?  You do?"

"Yes, sir.  My sister taught me everything she knew before…"

"Everything?"

"Yes, sir," this time with almost an edge of defiance.  "You can test me."

"Alright," Reticly sneered.  "Normally, I would take away twenty points for lateness on the first day.  If you're wrong, I'll make it fifty points and give you a detention.  If you're right, I'll give Gryffindor fifty points.  Deal?"

Fifty was a lot of points.  _Don't do it, Remus, Helen thought.  Lily was slowly shaking her head.  Vicki was holding her breath and clenching her fists._

Remus looked Reticly straight in the eye.  "Deal."

There was a collective gasp from the back of the room.  Everyone knew it was really some sort of trap, and they were sure Remus had walked right into it.  Sure enough, Reticly picked up a textbook and flipped to a section that was normally not covered until the middle of the second year.

"Kappas," said Reticly.  "What can you tell me about them?"

"Kappas."  Remus took a deep breath.  "A Japanese water demon, shallow water, like ponds or small lakes.  Looks like a monkey, only with fish-scales, and a kind of bowl shaped depression on the top of its head.  The water in the hollow gives it strength, but it also needs to feed on human blood."

Reticly scowled.  "Really?  Please, tell the class how to protect themselves from Kappas, _Professor Lupin."_

Remus turned to his fellow Gryffindors.  He was actually grinning.  "The simplest and most immediate protection from a blood thirsty Kappa is to throw it a cucumber with your name carved in it.  This is sufficient to convince a Kappa not to attack, but few people actually carry a cucumber with their name carved on it in their pocket.  Even if you can transfigure a cucumber, the carving may take several minutes.  I have tried it on occasion and can assure you that it is no easy task.

"Another method is to trick the Kappa into bowing.  When the water runs out of its hollow, the Kappa will lose its strength.  However, Kappas are fairly intelligent and not easily tricked.  Various illusions could work, such as appearing to be another Kappa but they are not foolproof.  After all, even the youngest and stupidest Kappa is aware that it will die without the water in its bowl.  The best and quickest solution, if you can manage it, is a rather complex Charm that can remove the water from its head."

Remus was getting quite into his lecture and began pacing.  "Most ordinary Charms won't work, because the Kappa has some innate magical protection around its hollow.  The Geyserius Charm is one of the few that can break this magical barrier.  Now, there is no Kappa in this room for me to demonstrate on, but let us pretend this tea cup is a Kappa's hollow.  As it is filled with," he stuck his finger into Reticly's cup, "lukewarm tea, I suggest you all stand back.  This teacup does not have the protective force of a Kappa's magic, so the spell may be slightly explosive."

The class murmured in interest.  "Now then," said Remus, pulling out his wand, "this spell is quite complex, and I hardly expect anyone in this class to get it, since you're still working on 'swish-flick.'"  He gave the class an actual apologetic smile.  "However, no harm in learning it, you can always practice later.  The spell is _Geyserius.  Class?"_

As if he were the professor, the class recited: "_Geyserius!"_

"Good.  Now, in order for the spell to work, you must pass your wand over the hollow—like so—and come back around with the swish-flick.  For an actual Kappa, you must stand very close, but for this teacup, which, again, contains no protective magic, stand as far away as possible."  He nodded to the girls.  "You may want to move back a row."

Helen looked at Vicki and Lily, who shrugged.  As they stood and moved back, Helen saw the gleeful anticipation on the faces of Jim and Sirius, and the awe on Peter's.  This was the most any of them had ever heard Remus say at once.  Actually, it was more than they had ever heard Remus say, combined.

Remus looked at Reticly, who stood right next to the desk, glaring at Remus.  "Professor…?"

"Just do it, Lupin," he snarled.  His tone said: go ahead and try.

Remus nodded and took a step back, until only the very tip of his wand was over the teacup.  He waved his wand and said, "_Geyserius!"  Then he dropped to the floor and rolled under the desk._

Considering his toothpick had changed very little in Transfiguration earlier that week, Helen wasn't sure what to expect.  Certainly not what she saw.

All the tea blasted straight into the air, then exploded out in all directions.  Reticly, standing less than an arm length away, took the brunt of it and was completely soaked.

For two seconds, there was dead silence.  Then Remus stood up, grinning form ear to ear.  Sirius, Peter and Jim were applauding and cheering to no end.  Lily sat there in open mouthed amazement.  Helen just smiled at him.  As Remus walked back to his seat,  Vicki help out her hand and gave him a very loud high-five.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed Reticly.  "All of you, sit down, and be QUIET!"  Silence.  "Now, open your books, read the first chapter.  As you have been deprived of your regular class time, you must read the entire chapter and outline it for me by your next class.  Now, get to work!"  For the rest of class, there was no sound but the scratching of quills.

That night, Helen checked the points.  There were fifty more there.

The Soaking of Reticly became a school legend, and Remus a hero for a time.

And no one complained about the extra homework.

~*~*~*~

Lily sat in Potions class the next day, contemplating Remus Lupin.  After his energetic show in DADA, he seemed exhausted.  In classes over the last two days he had constantly seemed about to fall asleep, except he did eat lunch with his usual appetite and …style.  But he had changed a little: when people came up to him in the halls, and students from every house but Slytherin had been all day, Remus would give them a modest little half smile and a mumbled "thanks."  It was a slight improvement over his "looking at something on one else sees" look.

At the table behind Lily, Vicki and Helen were arguing about the man of the hour, Remus.  Helen seemed to think he was a mystery she was determined to get to the bottom of.  Vicki continuously told her to "give the poor boy a break, already!"

Just then, the Slytherins trooped in, arraying themselves on the other side of the room.  There was a lot of angry eyeing and scowling from both sides of the dungeon.

And then the teacher came in.  Professor Bolda was, well, there's only one word for it: blank.

"Hello, students!" she said cheerily.  She seemed to be smiling at…the wall behind them.  She then turned to the board and started writing what were apparently notes.  Except that they were written in paragraph form.  Professor Bolda had very small handwriting.  Even in the front of the class, Lily could barely read it.  Lily wrote as quickly as possible, ignoring sentences like "The purpose of newt livers is used to…"  When she finished, Bolda smiled in the general direction of the class.  "Who's finished?"

One or two hands went up.  Everyone else dove for their quills and started scribbling.  Bolda read the "notes" out loud, though she sounded like she was talking to herself.  Suddenly, she turned back to the class.  "I love newts.  They just have so many uses!  Right?"

She seemed to be looking right at Lily and waiting for an answer.  Lily hadn't run across newts in any of her pre-reading.  "Uh…sure?"

Bolda grinned and gave a rather forced-sounding laugh, then turned back to her reading.

When she was done, she turned back to the class.  "Now, the purpose of this class is to meet new people."

"I thought it was to learn about potions," Jim said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Bolda's smile disappeared and she scowled.  "You need to stop _screaming while I'm talking."_

"Umm, sorry?"

"Now as I was saying before I was interrupted," the forced laugh and smile, "we're here to meet new people.  I want all the groups to be one Gryffindor and one Slytherin.  Ok?"

She had to be kidding.  No, she wasn't.

The class stood up and shuffled into new groups.  No one looked the slightest bit happy.

"Now you can all get acquainted while  I write your assignment."

Lily looked at the boy next to her.  "I'm Lily Evans."

"I'm Severus Snape," he said.

"Oh, Jim said he met you on the train!"

"Are you a friend of Potter's?"

Just then there was a shout from the back of the room.  Everyone turned to look—except Bolda.  Remus's new partner, Edward Lestrange, had just tried to curse him.  Jim and Sirius ran to his rescue, and a small scuffle started.

"So," said Severus, "that's the one who tried to attack our Head of House?"

"Erm, no," said Lily, and she explained what had happened.

Severus was still looking at Remus.  "He doesn't look so tough."

Lily sighed and went to get materials for their potion.  While she was up, she saw Remus.  "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Guess," muttered Remus.  "I guess one House does like Reticly."

"Don't let it get you down," Lily advised.  "I'd switch, but I doubt it would help."

That day they worked on a potion that would turn your hair green.  Lily didn't know how this was useful, but maybe Bolda wanted to give them something easy to do on the first day.  Lily tried hard to ignore the sounds of fighting in the back of the room.  Apparently, so did the teacher.  In fact, she seemed completely oblivious until Lestrange went to the front of the room with green skin.  He claimed his cauldron had fallen over, but Lily could smell a burnt Filibuster Firework.  Bolda gave him a detention for "fooling around."

"What about my green skin?" Lestrange demanded.

"I don't know what you're going to do about that."

"Isn't there an antidote or something?" asked Lestrange.

Bolda gave him a blank look.  As Lestrange walked back to his seat, Severus hissed that it should wear off in about twenty-four hours.  In the back of the room, Jim looked smug.

As they were leaving, Lily smiled at Severus.  "See you next week."

Just then, Jim ran by yelling "Hey, Lilliputian!"

Severus scowled.  "_Are you friends with him?"_

Lily glared at Jim's back.  "Nope, not at all."

Severus grinned.  "Then I'll see you!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Wow, two chapters down, can you believe it?  All right, still to come: Lily and Jim at war, and what everyone else thinks about this.  Will they join in the fighting?  Will anyone get expelled?  What is Remus' big secret?  And does anyone else have hidden secrets to be dug out?  Oh, the answer to the last one is definitely "yes"!

Please remember to review.  If you don't review, then I don't know if anyone's reading my story, then I get depressed and when I'm depressed I stop posting, and then you won't have any more chapters to read.  So review.  It's for your own good.


	3. Let the Games Begin

The Dance

_By Booklovr_

_A/N: Yes, it's true.  I've finally posted the third chapter.  Here we see the beginning of Lily and Jim's charming relationship, and just a few episodes from their many…adventures…in their first year._

_Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and everything else Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.  "The Dance" is by Garth Brooks, from his CD "garth brooks."_

**Chapter 3:**

Let the Games Begin 

_… I'm glad I didn't know_

_The way it all would end the way it all would go_

_Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain_

_But I'd of had to miss the dance_

The three things that bothered Jim the most about Hogwarts were homework, the Slytherins, and Professor Reticly, although Professor Bolda was a very close fourth.  But the main thing that stood between Jim and his complete enjoyment of his year at Hogwarts was not any of these things.  It was Lily Evans.  He thought that she was a nice girl, and was quite annoyed that she seemed to do nothing but ignore him.  Jim was quite determined to stop this, either by making her a friend (which he would have preferred) or an enemy (which seemed more and more likely).  Still, he didn't really know what to do.

"Nothing," Sirius suggested.  "If she doesn't want to be your friend, what _can_ you do about it?"

So, Jim continued as he had been, with Lily ignoring him consistently.  That is, until their first major schedule addition came along.

"Flying lessons?" Jim asked.  "With the _Slytherins_?"

"Not that bunch of—" Sirius started.

"Flying?" Peter looked scared.  "Like, on brooms?"

"How else are we going to fly?" demanded Vicki from another table in the Common Room.  "Don't worry, it's a piece of cake.  I do it all the time!"

"Yeah, _your_ experience is going to do _me_ a fat lot of good," Peter mumbled.

"Don't tell me you've never flown before," Jim asked incredulously.

"Oh, I've flown," Peter said.  "Or, actually, I've sat on the broom, gotten into the air, and fallen painfully to the ground."

"Maybe Madame Hooch will give you some pointers?"  Remus suggested.  "She usually gives her students ten minutes or so of free time at the end of the class."

"Oh, she _does_, does she?" Jim mused.

"I really don't like the look on your face," Peter moaned.

Peter turned out not to be the only one with difficulty flying, though he did appear to be exceptionally bad.  He did wind up asking for pointers and being corrected far more times than anyone else in the class.  Finally, the free time came and they were allowed to fly around the Quidditch pitch however they liked.  "But no foolish tricks!" Madam Hooch warned.  In fact, she probably said more, but Jim was too busy trying to fly out of her range of vision to pay much attention.

And it wasn't like she could do anything about it, since she was busy giving Peter even more help, and most of the students were well aware of this.

Severus was flying slowly, about ten meters off the ground.  Jim flew around him, arms crossed, steering with his knees.  "Look, ma, no hands!" Jim shouted.

"Look, ma, no brains!" Severus snapped back.

"You're just jealous!"

"No, you're just stupid!"

"You should talk," Jim said, flying off.

A few minutes later, he flew over to Lily.  "Hey, Lilliputian!"

"Shut up, Jim," she snapped.

"Come on, won't you even look at me?" Jim pleaded.

"Why don't you just go—Jim!  What do you think you're doing?"

Jim was hanging from his broom upside-down, holding on with his knees.  His robes had fallen so that Lily could see he wore Muggle jeans underneath, though Lily was a little too preoccupied to wonder about this.  His mop of hair fell straight down and his hat was perched on his legs.  "Flying," he said.

"Are you crazy?" she demanded.  "Well, I already knew you were but have you finally gone completely INSANE?"

"Nope, I've been this way for a while."  Jim grinned.

"Go away, Jim, I'm trying to fly."

"Come on, Lily, won't you be my friend?"

"WHAT?"

"I'm gonna hang like this until you say yes."

"Jim, your face is turning red."

"I can hang like this a long time."

"Jim!"  Lily was paying no attention to where they were going.

"Come on, _please_?"

"Oh, you're such a—"

CRASH!

THUD!

CRUNCH!

"JIM!"

While they weren't paying attention, they had flown all the way to the far end of the pitch and, in Jim's case, straight into the goal post.  The sound his arm had made when he hit the ground had not been very comforting.  It took about three seconds for him to notice his arm was at a funny angle, and at that exact moment the pain flooded through him.  He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming, but he doubted he could hold one back for long.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"  Jim was somewhat satisfied that he was keeping it down to a very loud shout.

Immediately, Madam Hooch and the entire class had surrounded him, Gryffindor and Slytherin students looking down with morbid curiosity.  He could see Snape sneering, and guessed that the greasy bat was laughing at him.

"Broken arm," the teacher announced.  "What on Earth did you think you were doing, flying like that? Detention, and—"

"Wait," said Lily.  "It's my fault.  I should have been watching where we were going, should have warned him."

Jim would have been surprised, but his arm hurt _horribly_, and he was only dimly aware of what anyone was saying.  It didn't seem very important, really.

"I had a part," Sirius added.  "I was doing a distraction…"

Vicki broke in, "I thought something was up but I didn't say anything…"

Peter closed his eyes.  "I-I-I had a part, too…"

"Yeah," said Remus, "and I was supposed to keep and eye on them, to make sure he didn't go too far out."  He grimaced.  "I thought he might like some privacy..."

Madam Hooch looked incredulous.  She was speechless for about a minute.  Then, "I don't know what you kids are trying to pull here, but you've all got detentions.  Sixty points from Gryffindor!  And if I ever catch anyone trying something like this again, you'll all be expelled!  Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," they chorused, with a moan of pain from Jim.

Fortunately, Madame Hooch had not forgotten about his arm, and brought him to the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible.  Madame Delta, the school nurse, had him fixed up in no time, though he was not spared a lecture.

"You children and your flying!"  Ranted the elderly Mediwitch.  "Do you have any idea how lucky you were that it was only a broken arm?  What if you had landed on your head?  That was much more likely, you know!  Do you think I can work miracles?  Do you think brain tissue just grows back?  You could have caused permanent damage!  Or what if you had broken your spine?  Go the rest of your life without being able to feel your legs, I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?  Or…"

It was more than half an hour later that Jim finally managed to get back to the Common Room, thinking that it would be worth giving up all dangerous activities if he never had to live through another lecture like that again.  As he climbed through the portrait hole, he found Lily waiting to confront him.

"I don't believe you!' she screamed.  "You got me a detention, you—"

"_I_ got _you_ a detention?" Jim demanded.  "You didn't need to say anything, you would have been fine!"

"What else was I going to do?  It was partly my fault!  Of course, that was before I knew you has a whole…conspiracy going on!"

"What's that supposed to mean?  Besides, it was _your_ choice to speak up, wasn't it?"

"I was trying to do the right thing!"

"I don't get it…"

"You wouldn't!  You don't have an ounce of nobility in you, do you?  I don't know how you even got in Gryffindor!"

Jim was about to tell her, but changed his mind.  "Well, next time, don't bother!"

"I won't!" Lily turned to walk away.

"Lily…do you like me at all?"

"Not even a little bit!"  She turned to glare at him.  "I hate you, James Potter, and I will never talk to you again!"

She stormed out of the Common Room to her dorm.

_Well,_ Jim thought, _if you can't get them on your side…_

~*~*~*~

The following Monday, at the breakfast table, the owls delivered their notices of detention.

"Tonight?" Vicki moaned.  "But I'm going to have so much homework…"

"I _told_ you to do your Charms work over the weekend," Lily scolded.

"What are we going to have to do?" worried Peter.

"Depends on the professor," said Jim.  "Could be almost anything."

"What if we got Reticly?" Remus looked scared.

"Imagine if we get Bolda!" Sirius laughed.

"I heard it's going to be Professor Sprout," Helen offered.

"Where'd you hear that?" Jim wondered.

"The rumor mill," Helen said vaguely.

"Hogwarts has a rumor mill?" Lily wondered.

"Well, yes," Helen said.  "Why wouldn't it?  More accurately, Hogwarts has a collection of people who always desire to know precisely what is going on everywhere at all times, and by simple exchange of information, boom, you've learnt what you wanted to know."

Everyone just looked at Helen for a few seconds.  Finally, Lily said, "Let me get this straight.  Somewhere in Hogwarts is a collection of busybodies with nothing better to do than collect all the rumors going around and use them to barter for more information?  And you shared some sort of secret with them to find out who we have detention with?"  Lily shook her head.  "Nothing else is normal here!  Why on Earth should the gossip be?"

"What did you tell them?" Jim wondered.

"Well," Helen explained, "my older sister, Bertha, is a Hufflepuff, and she's very high in the rumor mill, so to speak.  Hears all the really good gossip.  She knew where to find this out, but she needed something good to trade for it.  So, I gave her an eyewitness account of how all six of you got detention…"

"WHAT?" demanded Vicki.  "I don't believe you!  You sold us out!"

Helen rolled her eyes.  "Calm your nerves.  You know the Slytherins had already released their own version, so I presented an account that did _not_ make you lot out to be the biggest densest prats ever to enter Hogwarts.  In return, I was told whom you would have for detention, and…some other information which I do not feel the need to disclose at this time."

Jim muttered something under his breath about not trusting Helen with any secrets ever again.  Consequently, no one spoke to Helen for the rest of the day, except for Lily, who was making it a point to do the opposite of whatever Jim was doing.

But it did turn out that she was right.  Or at least, detention was in the greenhouses, and they started with Professor Sprout.

"Scrubbing plant pots.  Wonderful work," Remus said dryly, picking up the first pot and looking at it distastefully.

"Aw, a little dirt never hurt anyone," Vicki said with somewhat forced cheerfulness.  "Just roll up your sleeves and dive right in!"

Remus gave an unenthusiastic smile before dunking the pot into a bucket of soapy water.  Vicki idly noticed that Remus had actually not rolled up his sleeves, and as a result they were promptly soaked.  But it was quickly reaching the point where nothing Remus did ever really surprised anyone.

While she scrubbed, Vicki glanced around the greenhouse to see how everyone else was doing.  Jim was standing next to Sirius, and every few seconds one would "accidentally" spill water all over the other.  At any moment, Vicki mused, they might break into an all-out water fight.  Lily, standing on Jim's other side and looking none too pleased, was pointedly ignoring them, except for an occasional glare whenever _she_ was splashed.  Peter was scrubbing very efficiently (probably, Vicki assumed, because he didn't want to get into _more_ trouble) and was just finishing his first pot.  He was walking quickly across the greenhouse to put it on a shelf, when suddenly…

WHAM!

CRASH!

CRACKLE!

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"  Peter cried.  Somehow, Peter had managed to trip over a creeper that was stretching across the floor.  He immediately dropped the pot to the floor, but managed to save himself from following it by falling backwards into the plant.  That, however, seemed to be very little of an improvement; the plant was a Poison Barbed Throttle Bush.  The more Peter struggled, the more tangled in the plant's vines, creepers, and branches he became.  The wicked looking thorns, some as much as two inches long, dug into his skin, which was beginning to turn a very unnatural color.

The other five Gryffindors rushed over to help, but it became clear that the plant would not allow this.  Sirius tried to pull one vine away, only to discover that it twisted in his hand, trying to grab him as well as Peter.  The trapped boy continued to struggle, but his shouts were now dulled to whimpers.

"STOP MOVING!" Professor Sprout ordered, running across the greenhouse and pushing the other students aside.   She was holding a spray bottle of some sort in one hand, and was shaking it rapidly.  Peter stood absolutely still, and the plant seemed to stop tightening, though he was still tangled and the thorns still pierced his skin, pumping in who knew what kinds of poisons.

 Professor Sprout squeezed the bottle she held, and something clear and sweet smelling sprayed all over Peter and the plant.  Almost instantly, the vines and runners loosened completely, and fell to the ground, leaving bleeding gashes all over Peter.

The professor quickly conjured up a stretcher and had Peter lie down on it.  As she pushed him outside of the greenhouse, she shouted across the grounds at a passerby.  "Hagrid!  Could you watch over these five while I run to the Hospital Wing?"

There was a muffled agreement, and suddenly a giant man was standing in the greenhouse door.  He was twice as big as anyone Vicki had ever seen before, and she doubted he would actually fit in the building.  Somehow, Hagrid managed to squash himself in, and he sat on Professor Sprout's desk as if it was a char.  Certainly the chairs would have broken instantly under his weight, though she wasn't so sure the desk wouldn't.

"'Ello," he said, cheerfully, "Detentions?  What did yeh all do?"

"Jim flew into a goal post," Lily explained.  "The rest of us tried to cover for him."  She glowered at Jim, then marched past him with all the dignity she could managed, returning to a bucket to scrub more pots.

"What did yeh do that for?" Hagrid asked.

"Seemed like the right thing to do," Vicki said, feeling a bit offended.  "We were all sort of responsible, after all."

"I understand _that_," Hagrid said.  "I meant, why weren' yeh watchin' where you were goin'?"

"Oh, that," said Sirius.  He pointed at Jim.  "He was trying to talk to Lily, but she was ignoring him.  Somehow, he thought flying upside down would change her mind."  Sirius held up his hands defensively.  "It wasn't my idea."

Hagrid shook his head, looking amused.  "And why wouldn' yeh talk to him?" Hagrid asked Lily.

Lily shrugged.  "He's an idiot.  I mean, he was hanging upside down from a _broom_ for goodness sake!"

Everyone but Jim actually got a laugh out of that.  The Gryffindors all introduced themselves, and they all started talking as they scrubbed, though Lily and Jim still refused to look at each other.

An hour later, Professor Sprout and Peter returned from the Hospital Wing, Peter now looking a much healthier color, and all his cuts were gone.  Professor Sprout shooed them all back to their dorm, saying they'd been there long enough.  The six students eagerly ran back to the Common Room, where they found Helen sitting by the fire and waiting for them to get back.

"So," she called, "you guys have any fun?"

Jim, Sirius, Vicki, Remus and Peter all glared at her, Peter especially hard.  But Lily just smiled and said, "Talking with Hagrid was good."  Then she rolled her eyes and muttered, "The _rest of it…"_

"Oh, gee gosh darn it, what a pity I wasn't there."  This time even Lily gave her a dirty look.  "Oh, by the by, do you all remember when I claimed to have acquired 'some other information which I do not feel the need to disclose at this time'?  Well, I know it's just been _devastating_ to you that I haven't disclosed all the information that I've gathered, so…" With a grin she pulled a basket out from behind her chair and asked innocently, "Did any of you know how to get into the kitchens?"

Since none of them had, and they were all starving, Helen and her offering of food was enough of an apology that everyone was soon talking—and eating—with her again.  The six who had had detention related the story of what had happened, and Helen (after much begging from her housemates) admitted that she had felt bad about being the only one without detention, so she'd "sold their story to the rumor girls in exchange for information about the night's detention assignments and the location of the secret entrance to the kitchen."  Still, she refused to let any of the boys know where it was, telling them they would just have to find it for themselves.

However, there were still two members of the group not talking.  "Who's got the pumpkin juice?" Lily wondered while looking around.

Jim held it up, but since Lily didn't even look in his direction, Vicki had to take it for her and pour three cups.  As the girls drank, Vicki thought the boys' smiles all looked a little odd.

She shook her head.  _I'm probably just exhausted,_ she thought, scrambling to her feet.  It was much later than she usually stayed up on a school night.  "Goodnight, everyone," she yawned.

Everyone else stood up and started heading to their respective staircases, calling over their shoulders.

"Night girls."

"Goodnight people."

"See you in the morning."

"Goodnight _Lilliputian_."

"Shut up, _James_!"

"_DON'T CALL ME JAMES!_"

As they climbed into bed, Vicki asked, "So why don't you like Jim?"

"Because he's…well…annoying."

"I don't think he's _that_ bad," commented Helen.

"You should give him another chance," said Vicki.

"I've given him plenty of chances!" Lily snapped.

"How many? Two?" demanded Helen.

"Please, Lily, just give him one last chance?" asked Vicki.  She sincerely believed Jim was a good boy at heart.

Lily sighed deeply.  "Fine, _one_ last chance.  But he pulls on more stupid…_anything_, and that's it!  Understand?"

"Sure, Lily," Vicki yawned.  She fell asleep thinking that they could finally have some peace and quiet while the two were getting along.

The next morning, three green haired girls glowered across the table at four cheerfully waving and laughing boys.

"That's it," said Vicki.  "Let the games begin."

~*~*~*~

The boys all thought that turning the girls' hair green was hilarious.  And when the boys all found themselves unable to talk for three hours, the girls thought it was equally funny.

At first it was nothing but simple hexes and curses.  One day, Jim could write nothing but advertisements for Gladrags Wizard Wear.  Another time, Lily's fingernails grew at an alarming rate for four hours straight.  In mid-October, all of the boys' homework mysteriously vanished overnight several days in a row.  The next week, the girls kept finding flobberworms in their backpacks, and Lily's Charms book somehow transfigured into an onion.  But when the girls cursed all the boys with such an awful Indigestion Curse that they spent two days in the Hospital Wing, one of those days being Halloween, it became an all-out war.

Peter was the most reluctant of the four to start anything, even after two weeks of researching their Great Revenge.  "Look, guys, the harmless stuff is ok, but this is taking it a little far, don't you think?"

"Come on, Peter, you were as sick as the rest of us!" Sirius pointed out.  "And we missed a smashing Halloween feast—don't tell me you want to let them get away with that!"

"I _still_ don't feel good," Remus supplied, rubbing his stomach.

"Remus, you _never_ feel good," Peter pointed out.  "And on top of this, why do we have to get Snape, too?"

"Because," Jim said with some frustration, "there is no way they just happened to know that curse.  The Lilliputian has been getting very friendly with that Slytherin…how _else_ could they have learned it?  But don't worry, I'll take care of Snape myself."

"You sure you can manage all this?" Remus asked.  "I feel a little guilty ducking out…"

"Hey, I am Jim Potter, _Master_ of Transfiguration!  And I'm sure Sirius and Peter here can manage the little stuff between them."

Sirius nodded.  "You did enough, what with all the research and being Jim's Transfiguration Guinea Pig.  If your mum's sick again, you take that Portkey home to see her, and don't worry about us!"

Peter frowned, wondering why he had a sense of déjà vu.  He seemed to remember that Remus's mother had gotten sick once or twice before, and that Remus had had to rush home for two or three days, returning looking rather pale.  However, Peter refused to be sidetracked and continued his argument.  "We're going to be breaking into the _girls' dorm_!  How are we _ever_ getting in there without being caught?"

Jim gave them a big grin.  "I'll show you, but I gotta swear you to secrecy first."

This caught Peter's interest.  "Swear us to secrecy over what?"

"Hey, what did I just say?  Ok, repeat after me: I do solemnly swear…"

"I do solemnly swear…" the others echoed obediently.

"To never ever tell what I'm about to be told…"

"To never ever tell what I'm about to be told…"

"To any—hey, we need a name for ourselves!"

"Like what?  'The first year Gryffindor boys'?" Peter demanded.  He wasn't very imaginative, and he wanted to hear what Jim was getting at.

"Nah, something better," said Jim.  "Like, the Super Spies?"

"The Pranksters," suggested Sirius.

"No, I got it," said Remus.  "The Marauders!"  The other boys murmured agreement.

Jim beamed.  "That's brilliant, Remus!  Now, where was I?"

"…Tell what I'm about to be told," prompted Peter eagerly.

"Right: To any non-Marauder…"

"To any non-Marauder…"

"And especially not to our sworn enemies: Lily, Vicki, and Helen…"

"And especially not to our sworn enemies: Lily, Vicki, and Helen…"

"And possibly Snape, if we can prove he's helping them…"

"And possibly Snape, if we can prove he's helping them…"

"If I break my word may my hair fall out, my teeth rot, and my skin turn funny colors…"

"If I break my word may my hair fall out, my teeth rot, and my skin turn funny colors…" Peter was starting to get anxious.

"I further swear to worship Jim Potter like the god he is…"

"That's _enough_, Jim," said Sirius.

"Sorry, just wanted to see how much I could get out of you nuts."  Jim grinned maniacally.  "Alright, feast your eyes on the answer to all our sneaking problems!"  He opened his trunk and reached in.  "The one, the only, the Potter Family Invisibility Cloak!"  And he pulled it out with great flourish.

"Ooooh," they collectively gasped.  Not that they could actually _see_ the Cloak, but Jim's hands were now invisible and the air around them was rather shimmery, so Peter assumed it had to be there.

"Actually, It's an heirloom from my mum's family.  But, now she's a Potter and it was hers.  It became Ric's a while back, but, as he is too honorable to ever use it, he decided to give it to me.  And, as my brother Harry has an unusual allergy to Demiguise pelts, it shall remain mine until I choose to pass it on to an heir of my choice.  And, as that will never happen, it's mine forever!"  He looked very pleased with himself.

Peter wasn't really listening.  He was too much in awe, as he'd never seen an Invisibility Cloak before.  "So…so we use that to sneak into their dorm?" 

"That's the plan!" said Jim proudly.  "Now, everyone go get their homework done.  We've got a lot to do tonight."

Under the cover of the Invisibility Cloak, the three boys snuck into the girls' room just after midnight.  Moving silently, Jim began the complicated series of spells they had worked out.  Sirius went through the draws and trunks, finding every article of clothing and charming each one.  Peter did have the easy part, and that involved his most prized possession: his camera.  It had been a going away gift from his mother, though he had tried to keep his photography skill secret.  It was rather an embarrassing hobby for a wizard of his age, but Jim and the others hadn't teased him when they found out.  Instead, they put him to use.

Tip-toeing around the room, Peter began taking pictures of each of the girls.

Lily had pulled her thick blanket up to her ears and was cuddling a small rag doll, her plaited hair looser than usual, red wisps escaping all over the place.

Helen was curled up like the small white Persian cat at the foot of her bed, with her blonde curls veiling her oddly innocent-looking face.

Vicki lay on her back, short black hair wild, one arm flung out as she snored softly beneath the Holyhead Harpies poster proudly displayed above her bed.

They were so sweet, so innocent looking.  This had amazing blackmail potential.

When they were finished, the Marauders returned to their dorm under the Cloak.  Outside their dorm window, a distant animal cried by the light of the full moon.

At exactly seven-thirty the next morning, when nearly everyone in the school was eating breakfast, the three girls entered the Great Hall looking ready to kill.  Everyone stopped eating to stare in disbelief.  Peter made sure to take plenty of pictures, though he stood well back behind Jim and Sirius.

The girls' skin was covered with scales.  Their hands were like solid brass, with long, wicked claws.  Sharp fangs showed under their thin lips, long tongues showing, and they were all bearded.  Worst of all, their hair had been turned into a live, writhing mass of snakes.  Peter hated snakes.  These harmless little garter snakes weren't so bad, but still…

Names were written in bright green letters on the backs of their robes.  Helen was "Stheno the Gorgon," Vicki was "Euryale the Gorgon," and Lily, front and center, was "Medusa."

"Alright," she snarled, "we're here, so fork them over!" She threw down a note reading, _"If you want your wands back, come down to the Great Hall, just like that, at 7:30 am_."  Clearly, the girls knew who had written it.

"Why, Lily," said Jim, the picture of pleasantness, "you look absolutely lovely!  Whatever did you do to your hair?"  The entire hall burst into laughter.

Lily snarled again.  Peter stepped back, thinking she looked very frightening right now.

"Look, _James_, take off this stupid spell now, or you'll wish you'd thought of one that _doesn't _make us more dangerous!"  She growled, showing fangs and brass claws.  Vicki and Helen looked absolutely bloodthirsty.

Jim, however, looked almost bored as he waved his wand.  "_Perseus!"_

Immediately, the girls turned back into their normal selves.  Peter quickly handed back their wands, being careful to keep the table between himself and his murderous Housemates.  Lily was shooting death glares at him and his camera.  Then they turned and stormed out amidst great applause.  Sirius howled with laughter as Peter continued to take pictures.

Jim, however, was watching Lily retreat, her long, thick, red hair hanging down her back rather than in it's usual braids.  He seemed very deep in thought, and Peter hoped he wasn't planning anything crazy.

~*~*~*~

Lily was glad to see the three boys get detentions.  Even Remus lost the house a few points when he confessed to researching the spell and the Medusa myth, but that wasn't enough to earn him a detention.  She was even more pleased when they each got a bright red letter the next morning, which Vicki called Howlers, and had to run out of the room, being followed by the sound of screaming parents.  Then Lily shocked everyone, including herself, when she stepped forward and confessed to aggravating the boys, and earned herself a detention as well.

The day of the detention, the following Friday, they had Potions, and Jim was able to get his revenge on Severus.  As Lily and her partner had almost finished their Basic Slug-Killing Potion (which seemed to be mostly salt water with random ingredients thrown in), Jim walked past and dropped God-only-knows-what into the cauldron, causing it to melt into a heap at their feet, liberally splashing Severus with all manner of nasty things.  Severus immediately hexed Jim with something that stuck his legs together but gave him an amazing ability to hop around.  Professor Bolda never even looked up.

However, Lily was finally able to come up with a nickname to match "Lilliputian."

"Hey, Jiminy Cricket!" she called as she walked into the Great Hall for detention.

Their assignment: scrub all the tables and chairs in the Great Hall, without magic.  They worked for a while, one to a table, in complete silence.  Not that having Argus Filch breathing down their necks was helping the mood any.  When Lily was a third of the way done, Filch's cat, a horrid dust-gray creature by the name of Mrs. Norris who was rumored to be both immortal and supernaturally smart, came into the Great Hall.  After a moment, Filch barked that he would be back, so they'd better not get any ideas, and followed the cat in the direction of Gryffindor tower.

As soon as Filch was gone, Jim started talking.

"Hey, Lilliputian."

"Yeah, Jiminy Cricket?"  She looked up to see him flinch at the name.

"Why are you here?  I mean, why confess?"

She knew what he meant.  "Well, we've gotten this far without anyone getting caught."  She shrugged, and scrubbed a few more minutes while deciding what to say.  When her thoughts were in order, she looked him square in the eyes.  "Here's the deal.  We fight this fairly, the Gryffindor way.  As long as this war goes on, we keep it just within the House, within the seven of us."  She paused to duck under the tables and move next to him.  "No tattling, no running to teachers.  We cover for each other if anything goes wrong or becomes obvious."

"Like when we never accused you of stealing our homework?" he suggested coldly.

"Exactly.  Or when we told the teachers there were flobberworms in our bags because we wanted to practice for when we take Care of Magical Creatures in two years.  And if anyone gets caught and has to serve detention, everyone confesses his or her role.  No one ducks out.  It's that whole nobility thing again.  Deal?"

"One more thing," added Jim.  "No outside parties.  So stop asking Snape for curse suggestions."

"Will you stop bothering him in Potions?"

"As long as he doesn't bother me."

"Promise?"

Jim held up a hand.  "I swear on my honor as a Marauder."

"A what?"

"Marauder.  Me, Sirius, Peter, and Remus.  The Marauders."

"You have a name?"  Lily looked at him as if she had lost all respect for him.

"Do we have a deal or not?"

"Deal," said Lily holding out her hand.  
  


"Deal," agreed Jim, slapping her hand as they shook.  And, as they had both concealed a sponge in their hand, both were soaked.

Lily quickly slipped back to her side of her table as Filch walked back into the room, muttering about dungbombs in the Gryffindor corridor.  Lily strongly suspected that Remus had something to do with this, and that he had been trying to give his friends a short detention break.

After that the detention lightened up, as soapy sponges (as well as insults) were thrown whenever Filch wasn't looking.

That night, sitting on their dorm room floor, Lily explained the rules of the war to her friends.

"This sounds good," Helen said.  "I second the motion.  All in favor?"

"Uh, Helen?" Lily asked.  "What does that mean?"

"Hmm?  Oh, it's something they say in official meetings and stuff.  One person proposes a motion, someone else seconds it, and then all in favor say 'Aye.'"

"Oh, I get it!" Vicki said.  "Well, sounds good to me.  Aye."

Lily shrugged.  "Right.  Moving on…"

"Lily…" Helen hissed.

"Eh?  Oh, right, fine, aye.  And since we're using 'Official Speak,' then we'll move onto the 'next order of business.'"  Lily paused to stroke Helen's cat, Featherfluff, as she stalked past after invisible prey.  "The boys have a name for themselves: the Marauders.  We need one."

"Ooh, can we have code names, too?" asked Vicki.

"Why do we need code names?" demanded Helen.

"Why do we need a group name?" countered Vicki.  "If we're doing one, we might as well do both."

"What did you have in mind?" asked Lily, thinking that Vicki had this all planned out and was going to tell them anyway.

"Well, we could be 'Aves.'  I'd be 'Falcon,' Helen would be 'Swan,' and Lily'd be 'Hummingbird'!"

"Hummingbird?" demanded Lily.

"How long have you been thinking about this?"

"Oh, my friends back home used to call me Falcon, cuz I was the fastest thing in the sky, natural born flier, they said," she added with some pride.  "I've always thought it would make a cool code name, like a spy name.  I've been trying to work out good ones for you guys, too."

"Oh, instead of Swan, can I be Phoenix?"

"Why Phoenix?"

Helen shrugged.  "I just like phoenixes!  They're my favorite birds, and I've got a phoenix-feather wand.  Besides, why Swan?"

Vicki nodded.  "Sure, hey, it's your name.  Sounds good."

"Alright then!  I second the motion!  All in favor?"

"Aye!" Vicki and Helen said together, giggling.

"Well…aye…I suppose…got anything better than _Hummingbird?_"

"Oh, umm, ok, Dragonfly?" Vicki suggested.

"How about Cardinal?" supplied Helen.

"Canary?"

"Parrot?"

"_Parrot?_" demanded Lily and Vicki together.

"Sorry," Helen shrugged.

"I know!  How about 'Pixie' since you're our queen of mischief?" Vicki suggested.

"Hmm, Pixie," Lily mused.  "Falcon, Phoenix, and Pixie.  The Aves."  She grinned.  "I like it!"

"It's unanimous!" Helen agreed enthusiastically.

Vicki grinned proudly.

"Oh, last, er, order of business," Lily announced, "Cuz it's really late.  Peter has a camera.  That camera has many pictures of us.  These must be found and destroyed."

"I secon' a mosh-uh" Helen yawned.  "All in favor?"

"Aye," they all said together with more giggles.

"But how are we gonna do this?" Vicki wondered.

"Don't know," said Lily, "but we'll make it our goal for the week.  Unless there's anything else?" Vicki and Helen shook their heads.  "Ok, Aves, let's get some sleep."

"I'd sleep much easier if that door would lock," Helen muttered.

Lily walked over to the door and muttered a Charm.  "There.  If anyone tries to walk through the door, all the lights will come on and an alarm will go off.  That should wake us up.  Or, at least, it should wake me and Helen."  She grinned wickedly.  "Vicki can sleep through anything."

Vicki threw a pillow at her.  Lily threw it back.

"Good night," Helen said.  It was almost an order.  Lily made a face and snapped her curtains shut just in time to avoid being hit by a flying slipper.

"Aves," Lily sighed.  It was a name those boys would remember.  She'd make sure of that.

~*~*~*~

All day Monday, Peter felt like he was being watched.  He strongly suspected the girls, but every time he turned around to look at then, they'd be pointedly ignoring him.  Which made him all the more sure it was they.

He was on his way to the library after Herbology to work on his DADA assignment (Peter was failing abysmally in DADA) when he suddenly discovered Helen and Vicki just behind him.  Instinctively, he reached into his backpack and pulled out the camera so that they wouldn't steal it while he wasn't looking.

"Hello," said Vicki, coming up on his left.

"Going to the library?" inquired Helen on his right.

"Umm, no," he said spinning around and trying to run.

The girls spun him back around and forced him to keep walking down the hallway.  "Oh, come on, Peter.  We don't bite," Helen chided.

"If it'll make you feel better, we don't have our wands," Vicki said.

Peter saw that they both had one hand on him and the other arm full of books.  They couldn't do anything sudden, and he could get away as soon as one of them let him go.  Peter was very quick for someone his size.

When they were twenty feet from the library, the door opened and Lily came out, a large stack of books balanced in her arms.  She looked at them as if she was puzzled.  "What are you doing?"

"We're going to help Peter with his DADA assignment, right?" Helen asked with a smile.

Peter relaxed a little so he could think.  One of the girls would need to let go to open the door.  Probably Helen would, since Vicki held on with her right hand and thus had the stronger grip.  She might try something in those few seconds, so Peter would have to get away fast.  Luckily, that was what he did best.  He twisted around to check his back.  Lily had already turned the corner, the hall was empty and there were several side corridors he could turn down.

At the door, Helen let go, suddenly reaching for his camera.  In that split second, Peter collapsed.  He dropped to his knees so suddenly that Vicki lost her grip.  Before either girl could react, he rolled over and ran down the hall, clutching the camera tightly.  He heard the bang of dropped books and knew they were going for their wands.

Peter didn't even slow down as he passed the first side corridor, knowing Lily would be standing backup there.  Dashing to the next hallway, he shrugged off his backpack and threw it in front of the third door on the right.  Then he backtracked to the first door on the left, diving in just as he heard the girls come around the corner.  Peter cowered behind the teacher's desk in the empty classroom and listened.

"Look!  There's his bag!"

"Is he in there?"

"Unlikely.  It's probably some sort of deception."

"You check that room, we'll check the ones further down."

Peter waited for about fifteen minutes, wishing he hadn't left his wand in the dorm.  Then… "Do you think he's in one of the rooms _before_ his bag?"

"That would imply that he'd backtracked…Do you think he's actually that smart?"

"You never know."

"All right, might as well check.  He doesn't seem to be anywhere else."  The door opened the rest of the way and the three girls entered.  Peter held his breath and tried to make himself invisible.  The girls were coming closer, thy would find him and curse him awfully, they would smash his camera, they must hear his heart beating by now—

"Oh, no!  Did you hear that?"

"I think its Filch!"

"Back to the library!  Run, Aves!"

Peter waited five minutes for the girls or Filch to enter the room, but nothing happened.  Finally he climbed to his feet and looked into the corridor.  Empty.  The girls were gone, but they'd taken his bag!

After much running and sneaking, Peter made it back to the safety of the dorm, where he explained what had happened to the other Marauders.

"Aves?" pondered Jim.  "Seems they have a name, too."

"So?" demanded Peter.  "Were you listening to anything I just said?"

"Hmm?  Oh, right," Jim said, snapping back to reality.

"How'd you do it?" Remus asked.

"Huh?"

"How'd you get away?  You seemed to know what you were doing."

Peter shrugged.  "I've always been…sort of a target for bullies.  I've had lots of practice with hiding and running away."

Jim seemed thoughtful for a minute before shaking his head.  "First thing first.  We'll develop those pictures today.  I think we can ransom some of the morning pictures for Peter's backpack.  Save one or two, plus all the ones of them sleeping.  Those have lots of potential.  Oh, and I want the one of them all leaving the Great Hall, too."  Before Peter could ask why, Jim changed the subject.  "Ever considered a career in espionage?"

"Espio—?  What?  No!"

"I think you'd be good.  You already seem to be an expert sneak."

Sirius nodded.  "Yeah, we could use a spy—"

"Um, I gotta go develop this film.  Now!"  Peter ran from the room before Jim or Sirius could come up with any other ideas.

The next morning, the girls—the Aves—returned the backpack in exchange for "all" the pictures.  Peter fervently hoped he wouldn't have to be the one to tell the girls about the pictures they'd kept.

He didn't discover the dungbombs until they went off in his bag.  As he tried to explain to Reticly that he'd forgotten his homework—again—Peter's brain was already thinking up a suitable revenge.

~*~*~*~

_A/N: Imagine something like this happening on a weekly basis between here and Christmas.  The next chapter will pick up around Christmas Holidays, and we'll get to see the home of one Ave and one Marauder.  It might take a while to appear, what with term papers due and other college-y things, plus the chapter itself needs a major overhaul.  Please review so I'll know you're waiting!_


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